Lady of the Cheerios
by Whimsicaljourney
Summary: Based on the cut scene from the "A Wedding" script. Brittany and Santana are in cheer camp and meet for the first time.
1. Chapter 1: Out with the old

**Quick A/N: This is the first time I'm publishing something for fanfiction so bare with me. With the new cut scenes I felt inspired to write Brittana in the wilderness but I wanted to write it with a backstory so it might be a few chapters before we actually see them in survival mode. This one is really short but it's like a short prologue next chapter should be up really soon. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1: Out with the old**

Santana arrived at McKinley High's cheer leading camp with one mission and one mission only: to get on Coach Sylvester's radar. This was the moment to prove herself worthy of being on the Cheerios. Getting on the Cheerios will lay out the path for her high school experience.

Coach Sylvester is known as (and this is putting it nicely) a cold hearted bitch. There is a method to the madness that works for her though, it seems every year she manages to not only take the Cheerios to Nationals but they win. Every time. Winning is what Santana wants. She wants the respect, the prestige, she wants it to be common knowledge that she is the best of the best. That would be something her mother and grandma can be proud of. And something she'll be able to flaunt to the rest of the family, especially those catty cousins of hers.

Santana walks over to the large cabin that seems to be the dining area and before she walks in she takes a moment to say goodbye to middle school Santana and embraces the role of future HBIC Santana Lopez. Finally she takes a deep breath, straightens her back, puts on her most intimidating bitch face, and pushes the door open.

* * *

Brittany is sitting at a lunch table with a packet of paperwork laid in front of her. This is surreal for her. Not the paperwork, but the fact that she's sitting here alone. Brittany glances over to the table where her friend Liz, or should we say ex-friend by the looks of it, is gathered at a table and chatting with all of her other ex-friends. Brittany isn't surprised by this new development she was kinda expecting it. But it still hurt.

Since McKinley didn't have a dance program she figured cheerleading could be just as fun. Maybe she would even meet new people and make new friends. However, she just might be wrong. Everyone looks familiar to Brittany. She went to elementary and middle school with this same bunch of girls. Brittany was regretting coming here. She was mentally preparing a good escape plan. She is after all equipped with a blue print of the entire camp and a few smoke bombs for diversion. All courtesy of Lord Tubbington.

Then she hears it. The unmistakeable hyena cackle of Liz. That solidifies Brittany's decision. She gets up, smoke bomb in hand, and briefly contemplates chucking it directly at Liz's face when the door opens and in walks a not-so-familiar face.


	2. Chapter 2: In with the new

**Chapter 2: In with the new**

This felt like Brittany's movie moment. Everything was in slow motion. She thought that girl was beautiful. Tan skin, pitch black hair, and she was walking with determination on her face and was radiating confidence. Brittany was starstruck. As she walked by Brittany's table, Brittany quickly hid the smoke bomb behind her back.

This was Brittany's chance.

"Hi."

Santana didn't even acknowledge her. She walked right on by. She was headed straight to Coach Sylvester, she didn't have time for any small talk.

Santana found her target. Coach Sylvester was sitting at a table all the way in the back reading a book. Two Cheerios in their cheerleading uniforms stood on each side of the table like bodyguards. Santana approached.

"Good morning, Coach Sylvester," Santana wanted to appear confident but her voice was wavering, "My name is Santana Lopez. I'm thankful for the opportunity to learn-"

Coach Sylvester got up from the table, never taking her eyes off her book. Snapped her fingers and pointed to the right. The two cheerleaders turned towards the table, lifted it up and moved it a few steps to the right.

Coach Sylvester cleared her throat annoyed and one of the Cheerios quickly went to retrieve Coach Sylvester's chair and place it back by the table. Coach Sylvester took a seat and continued reading her book.

Santana just stood there perplexed by the situation. She moved back in front of the Coach's table.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm grateful for all-," Coach Sylvester raised her hand and for the first time looked at Santana. She squinted her eyes at her as if studying her.

"I wasn't trying to be subtle, Janice."

"It's San-"

"I literally moved my table away from you, what more of a hint could you possibly need?"

This was definitely not going the way Santana expected. She once again tried to explain herself but Coach interrupted. Again.

"I don't need you cutting into the few precious minutes I have before I need to address all the sorry excuses of athletes I have lounging out there. Especially when all you're doing is giving me a half-assed attempt to suck up to me. I can already tell you come bearing no gifts for me." Coach Sylvester sits there looking at her.

Santana didn't know how to respond to that. She didn't even think of bringing a gift, she spent her time planning on what to say to her.

"Well?" Coach asked.

Santana was trying to remember if anything she packed in the bags next to her could possibly pass as a gift and she had nothing. She mentally kicked herself for trying to get in Coach's good graces and having it backfire on her. She can also feel the heat rising in her face as she is suddenly made aware of how quiet it has gotten behind her and knows everyone is probably watching all this go down.

"We brought you this but we didn't have time to wrap it."

Santana looks to her right and sees a blonde girl handing something over to Coach Sylvester.

Coach inspects the gift in her hands, "These look military grade. How did you know I was running low on my supply?"

"Santana always says you can never have enough smoke bombs around," Brittany puts her arm around Santana's shoulders and gives her a smile.

Santana just looks at her and then at Coach, who is already stuffing the bombs in her track suit. She has never been more confused and at a loss for words than she is at this moment.

"Well Samantha. . . touche." And with that Coach gets up and walks away, the two cheerios not far behind.

Santana's gaze follows her as she leaves outside. Then turns her attention to the blonde.

"That was. . ." Santana doesn't even know where to begin.

"Don't worry about it. That's what friends do."

"We are not friends," Santana said harsher than she intended and on instinct. Immediately she tried to backtrack, not sure why since on any given day she would tell people off for getting in her business. " I mean, I don't even know your name."

"Oh right," Brittany chuckled, instantly feeling her mood elevating,"I'm Brittany. Nice to meet you, Santana."

"How do you know my name?"

Brittany turned a shade pink. "I followed you when you came in and overheard you introduce yourself to the Coach."

Santana figured this was probably the girl who had said "hi" to her when she came in. Now she was wondering why she had followed her? Was it to make friends? Santana was not looking for friends. As far as she's concerned everyone here is competition. This included Brittany.

"Cool. So um. . . Thanks?" Santana didn't intend to make it sound like a question but the mere act of thanking a peer seemed foreign to her. "With the whole Coach thing. You didn't have to do that, I had everything under control."

Brittany just looked at her curiously.

"Anyways I have to go now so. . ." Santana picked up her luggage and was ready to high tail it out of there. Something about Brittany's stare made her feel uneasy.

"You need to fill out a packet."

Santana paused with her bags in hand, "What?"

"At the entrance there's a sign that says to 'take one and fill it out' and a stack of packets under it. You didn't take one. I'm not sure if you are trying to stick it to the man but the man in this case is Sue Sylvester and she doesn't peel bananas before she eats them."

"Oh, I hadn't noticed the sign." Santana looks towards the entrance and sure enough spots the stack Brittany was talking about.

"I have a table right over there," Brittany points to her table that has all her stuff on it, "Need some help carrying your bags?"

Santana can say no. She didn't need help with her bags. She wasn't going to sit at her table. A part of her wanted to stick to her guns and keep everyone here at arms length. But surprisingly a bigger part of her wanted to say yes. She liked Brittany, known her for all of five minutes but she likes her. That's rare. Maybe making one new friend wouldn't hurt. And Brittany was looking at her so expectantly. She can't say no.

"Sure," Santana hands one of her bags to Brittany.

Brittany takes it and can't stop herself from smiling. She made a new friend. Score.


	3. Chapter 3: Trust issues

**Chapter 3: Trust Issues**

Santana was reading the packet in her hand, a puzzled look on her face.

"What is this?" She turned a couple of the pages, "These questions have nothing to do with cheerleading and I'm positive the more ahead you get they aren't even in english anymore."

"I'm still on the first question."

Santana looks down at the first question on the packet. "Write down your full name?"

"Yeah it feels like a trick question."

"What do you mean?"

"It only has two lines, one for your first name and one for your last name." Brittany leaned over to whisper to Santana, "but I have a middle name."

Santana saw the seriousness in Brittany's face. "I'm pretty sure you can just leave it out. Just write down your first and last name."

"But then it wouldn't be my full name and I would fail the test." Brittany got a pained look on her face. "Then everyone will know that I'm so stupid I couldn't even answer my own name!"

Santana picked up on this. "You are not stupid Brittany. This entire packet is stupid. Here, " She pointed at a spot next to Brittany's first name, "write your middle name there."

Brittany put her pencil by her name but didn't write anything.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not 100% sure I know what it is"

"Wait, you do have a middle name right?"

"Me and my mom have 'S' for a middle name but I thought it was because we were related to Superman and had to be a shuttle about it."

"I think you mean subtle."

"But a shuttle can fly. Anyways I recently learned that I was wrong. The 'S' actually stands for something. It's a relief to have some difference between Britney Spears but I don't think I'll ever leave her shadow."

Santana chuckled. She didn't really follow Brittany's train of thought but that didn't matter.

"Ok," Santana took Brittany's pencil and wrote an 'S.' between Brittany's first and last name. Santana saw Brittany's last name and it clicked. " Brittany S. Pierce. . .Britney Spears."

Santana looked over at Brittany and smiled. Brittany just nodded her head.

"Ok ladies listen up!" Coach Sylvester boomed through a megaphone. "I have tents in the front. One per two people. And as you may or may not realize, yes, they are only intended for one but. . . I DON'T CARE!" She screeched. "So buddy up, grab your tents and follow me." Coach looked around. "NOW!"

Everyone quickly got up and started heading towards the tents. Santana and Brittany looked at each other and silently agreed to be partners. Brittany made her way over to grab one of the tents. As she bent down to get one she was bumped, she managed to find her balance and not fall to the ground.

"Oops sorry," Megan sneered as she grabbed one of the tents. Megan used to be one of Brittany's friends. Brittany notices Liz's group standing off to the side laughing. Megan grabbed a tent. "Didn't see you there." Megan turned around and was met with Santana.

Santana was smiling but Megan felt there was something unnerving about it. As though Santana was challenging her.

"I think you can apologize better than that." Santana said. Megan just stared at her. Santana nodded towards Brittany.

Megan turned to face Brittany ."Like I said, I'm so sorry Brittany. I didn't see where I was going."

Megan looked at Santana as though seeking approval. Santana did not look pleased.

"Here." she handed the tent she had picked and gave it to Brittany. Santana approved. And with that Megan quickly walked away.

"Thanks." Brittany said to Santana.

"Trust me she got off easy. She's just a pawn from the queen bee. I need to save my energy for her," Santana looked off to her side. Brittany followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at Liz. "I noticed her looking at our table. She must sense I'm a threat."

"Come on we should start walking." Brittany nodded towards Coach Sylvester, who was starting to lead towards a dirt pathway.

As they were walking Brittany decided to confide in Santana. "That girl you mentioned, her name is Liz. She used to be my best friend."

"Oh. I didn't know that. Why does she have it out for you?"

"That's a long story. And with all the little birdies around," Brittany motioned her arm around the woods. "It's not safe to tell it."

"I understand." Santana could sense that this was a sore subject for Brittany.

Brittany felt slightly guilty. Santana was her friend after all. She even stood up for her.

"It's not actually a long story. I just trusted the wrong person."

"I know what that's like. I know it too well. Gotta be careful who you trust." Santana didn't want to push for details. She figured Brittany would tell her when she was ready.

"So true." Brittany wanted to move away from the current topic. "I forgot to ask you where are you from? I haven't seen you around."

"I'm from a place called Lima Heights Adjacent."

"I've never been. Is it nice?"

Santana scoffed, "Yeah if you think the ghetto is nice and homey."

"Sorry. I didn't know."

"It's fine. We don't live there anymore." They arrived at a camping ground spot and some girls where already setting up their tents. "Ugh but I'll take Lima Heights over this crap."

Brittany started unpacking and laying out the tent to set it up. "What? You don't like camping?" she asked amused.

"God no. There's a reason why humans evolved and left this ancient practice of sleeping outdoors behind."

"That's probably why I love it. It feels like we are back in our natural habitat."

"Don't get all kumbaya and one with nature on me now."

Brittany laughed, "Oh come on. How about the smores and telling scary stories by the fireplace? That's fun."

"Yeah but I doubt there's gonna be much fun here." Santana sat on one of her bags and watched Brittany set up the tent. "Is that all of the tent?"

"It is." Brittany looked at it. "It isn't much is it? No way Lord Tubbington could squeeze in there."

"Lord Tubbington?"

"My cat."

"Exactly. These things are tiny not even your small cat can fit in there."

"I think you're being too kind to Lord T, Santana. I'll make sure to mention that when I write my letter to him." Brittany was almost done but needed Santana's help. "Can you hold this up for me?"

"Yeah." Santana got up and held the rod in place. "Do you go camping a lot?"

"We try to go every year when we can. My dad was pretty bummed he couldn't join me out here."

The tent was finished . Brittany and Santana took a step back to admire it.

"I'm pretty sure that is a child sized tent." Santana was not happy about it. "How are we going to fit all of our stuff in there and have room to sleep?"

"I guess we can sleep on top of our stuff."

"That sounds uncomfortable." Santana thought about it. "We'll have to leave our stuff in the tent during the day and our stuff out during the night. These bitches better not steal."

"I'm more worried about the woodland creatures that take your stuff to make gift bags for their sacrifices."

"Wait, what woodland creatures?"

Before Brittany gets a chance to answer Coach Sylvester appears with her megaphone. "I want you ladies to know that I am thoroughly unimpressed by your ability to set up camp. Now on to business. I have a list of activities I want to go through, but first we shall do the daily 5 mile run as a warm up. I do hope you have your running shoes on because I have no problem weeding out the weak and sending you home." She walked towards a golf cart and took a seat. "COME ON LADIES! I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY! RUN!"

Without thinking Brittany and Santana did just that. Both of them knowing it was going to be a long day.


End file.
